Taika Waititi’s AKIRA Will Hit Theaters In Summer 2021
Hollywood's been trying to get a live-action adaptation of Akira off the ground for many, many years, but it appears their latest effort is finally gonna be the one to push this project over the starting line. According to Deadline, Taika Waititi's Akira will hit theaters on May 21st, 2021. That's almost exactly two years from today, for anyone keeping score at home.
As of this writing, we don't know much about Waititi's Akira, up to and including who's writing it. We've seen some reports suggesting Waititi is co-writing the script with Michael Golamco; there's a half-finished IMDb page which may or may not have been set up for this version of Akira, which states that Marco Ramirez is writing the screenplay; and then there's years' worth of unused drafts by a number of writers who worked on previous iterations of this adaptation. Neither Deadline nor The Wrap's reports on today's release date announcement mention a writer, either.
We do know, however (thank to this IGN interview from 2017) that Waititi is determined to avoid any whitewashing controversies with the film, and that the intention is to deliver a feature film version of Akira's that's less of a remake of Katsuhiro Otomo's 1988 animated classic and more a direct adaptation of the graphic novels that inspired it. Sounds good to us!
Nothing else to report at this time, but we'll keep you informed as further updates roll in. In the meantime: how you feeling about this one? Think Waititi's got what it takes? Think they oughtta leave well enough alone? Sound off in the comments below, and stay tuned.
